Unfortunately, our boat finally crapped out near the tourist trap of the Whiskey Village. These villages lining the Mekhong make a sort of bootleg whiskey, and the boats invariably stop there so you can sample the merchandise and see a typical Lao village. But unless every villager in a typical Lao village sells postcards and t shirts, the place gives off a strong sense of tourist trap.

I really did want to get to the caves. Each year for hundreds of years, the king would sail up the river from Luang Prabang, presumably in a boat that didn't break down, and dedicate Buddha images and shrines for the cave. Over the centuries, the caves have accumulated over 4,000 Buddha images, from thumb size to human size, lining the entirety of the cave walls. So, even though I said at the beginning of the Laos section that I would refreshingly be able to end this entry with a "never again" instead of my usual "I'll be back", maybe I will return to see the cave after all.

On our last day we took a longtail boat down the Mekhong to Pak Ou cave. There are a bunch of boats down by the river, and we unfortunately chose the wrong one for our trip as it broke down repeatedly and we had to abandon the trip eventually. But in the meantime, the river scenery was quite enjoyable. The mob in the water across the river was doing some sort of Songkran related picnic/group bathing thing that we couldn't figure out. And yes, that's Somchai piloting our boat.

Beyond the communists and the monks, the rest of the parade was a bit hard to figure out. The line between spectators and participants was very blurred, as everyone knows everyone so the two groups were always stopping to chat with one another. The one theme I remember was vegetables, as each town in the district sent a delegation, and they each chose their favorite vegetable and carried a big plastic replica of said vegetable down the street. Apparently that wasn't that photogenic because I don't have any photos of it, so I've left you instead with the usual assortment of hill tribes, elephants, a man paddling a boat down the street, etc. You get the idea.

Surprisingly, there was also a huge contingent of monks in the parade. I don't normally associate monks with parades, but it did make for some nice photos.

Some more communists, although the youngest ones seem to be a bit less organized than their older comrades.

Finally the day for the big Songkran parade. I guess this is a Lao thing, because parades don't feature in Thailand's celebration. The parade is a mess, as is to be expected, but interesting nonetheless. In the neighboring countries, Songkran is best known for religious ceremonies in the morning, water fights all day and getting drunk at parties at night. A formal parade, complete with perhaps the world's only remaining hammer and sickle symbol and marching young communists, doesn't really blend with this spontaneous fun.

There's a big rock formation jutting up in the middle of the city, called Pousi, which looks like it should be a big deal as it completely dominates the city. It's surprisingly largely ignored by tourists, since I think the natural inclination of any tourist anywhere is to climb up things to get the best vantage point (or maybe that's just me). Well, we did climb up the rock, which takes about an hour each way. There are several temple complexes along the way and at the top, but none of them particularly memorable, so all you're left with is the view. And the view is great, but largely obscured by trees, so it's hard to get a good photo.

The old shophouses lining the main street have been almost entirely converted into restaurants, bars, boutiques and art galleries, like a Lao version of New York's SoHo. Many of these places are owned by the still sizeable French expat community, and it really gives the town a very different feeling from most Asian cities. While I don't think Luang Prabang's sights can hold a visitor for long, the cafe culture is definitely worth exploring over a longer stay. The French food was quite good, although one defining feature of every restaurant we ate it in Luang Prabang is an extremely slow kitchen. I think the food is cooked in the owner's personal kitchen, since there was a minimum one hour wait between courses in every restaurant. But, when you're in Luang Prabang, there aren't a lot of other activities competing for your attention, so it's best to just sit back and relax.

Luang Prabang is also famous for its high concentration of French colonial architecture, which you can see in the shophouses lining the main street, as well as in many of the grand private residences. The hotel pictured here is the Villa Santi, which used to be the home of a Lao princess. It's a small hotel that when we visited was the best in town, but unfortunately full. We did stop for lunch in the outdoor balcony, which is quite atmospheric. Nowadays there are a few more old colonial homes that have been converted into hotels as Luang Prabang has become a must see stop on the off the beaten path tourist circuit.

Luang Prabang is located on a raised narrow peninsula jutting out between two rivers. It's basically just one long street with some side streets fanning out toward the rivers. Wat Xien Thong, pictured here, is the oldest remaining temple in town (built 1560), and located at the very tip of the peninsula. There are over 30 temples crowding this little strip of land, which is why the early morning, when monks file out of each of these temples on their daily rounds, is a photographer's dream.

Luang Prabang attracts visitors due primarily to its French colonial architecture and the abundance of monks, who make it pretty easy to take an artsy photo. As in all Buddhist countries, the monks, most of whom are still children, get up very early in the morning and walk the streets as townspeople give them rice for their only meal of the day, usually at 11 am. We were too lazy to get up early for those very popular photos, so here are a few later in the day, when the monks are just hanging around.

We made another stop at a roadside stall selling Somchai's favorite noodles in the whole world. It's amazing that he hadn't been there in many years, but the old lady stirring the big vats of noodles is still in the same spot in the road, and they still taste great. We then visited the Royal Palace, of course, which wasn't exactly Versailles. It was built around 1900, and the royal family lived there until the Communists took over in 1975, whereupon they were moved to prison camps and died there. The interior of the palace is fairly depressing, small pokey rooms with some pretty standard furnishings. Some of the rooms look like the All in the Family set, where Archie and Edith used to bicker all day long. The temple on the grounds is actually nicer, and is a good example of a Lao temple. As you can see, the distinguishing feature of a Lao temple is the elaborate, multi tier roof, which is much more deeply sloping than in other countries, often sloping almost to the ground.

We stayed at the Phou Vao Hotel, which as far as I can tell has changed beyond all recognition. It was a large, modern hotel built outside of town on a mountain slope. It was about a ten minute walk into town, which for Luang Prabang is about as long a walk as it's possible to take before falling into the river. It has since been taken over by the Pansea chain, which is a small chain of boutique hotels in out of the way Asian locations. From the photos of the place, it looks like they've completely gutted it and made it much more high end, so I won't be rating the old Phou Vao.

On our first morning in Luang Prabang, as we were walking into town, we came across a huge Songkran market/festival pictured here. Luang Prabang is the focus of Songkran celebrating in Laos, so the town was swollen with visitors and very festive. Somchai is standing next to a selection of tungs for sale, which all the kids carried around with them during the holiday, as Somchai did when he was a toddler in Baan Mae. Tungs should have your astrological animal on them depending on the year you're born (he's a rabbit) and represent a ladder to heaven. They also have some Buddhist moral lessons for kids to help them on their way. Kids seem to enjoy them, much more than I would if someone gave me a flag full of biblical quotes to play with for Christmas.

45. Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is by far the biggest (some would say only) tourist attraction in Laos. Although both Vientiane and Luang Prabang served as capitals at various times, and often at the same time, Luang Prabang was the home of the royal family and the main French base during colonial times. During royal times a large number of temples were founded, which continue to draw a large population of monks, who make up well over 10 percent of the population. Keep in mind, though, that this population is about 20,000, so remember this when considering the guide books' advice to spend at least a week here.

The big challenge used to be getting here, as Vientiane was the only place where foreigners were allowed to enter the country, so you had to make your way to Luang Prabang from Vientiane. This involved a very unpredictable and uncomfortable trip by boat up the Mekhong, or flying on Lao Aviation, the airline with the world's worst safety record. Today, there are direct flights from Bangkok so you can avoid Lao Aviation, or nicer boat trips if you have more time. You can also drive between the two now that they've cleared a reasonably safe path through all the unexploded bombs. Lao Aviation is still lethal, and recently the UN and the various embassies have forbidden their employees from flying on it. We opted for the death flight, and lived to talk about it. (It was completely uneventful actually).

The most important temple in Laos, (and the largest and shiniest), Pra That Luang is located a couple of miles outside of town. Originally built in the 1300's, it's been rebuilt many times, with the recent version built in the 1930's. Surprising, since I had it pegged as a '70's kind of architectural statement. Basically a huge mound of cement painted a very bright gold, everything about it struck me as awkward. But it does make a fitting end to our visit to Laos' capital city. Oh, and I almost forgot, I stayed at the Novotel, at the time the only business hotel in Vientiane. There are a couple of more stylish boutique hotels now, like the Settha Palace hotel, which is clearly preferable. But if you're in the unlikely position of being on a business trip to Vientiane, the Novotel is a perfectly adequate place to stay. Unfortunately I can't remember anything about it beyond its adequacy, so I'll give it straight 5's and a goose egg for wow factor.

Wat Si Saket is the oldest temple in Vientiane, and about the only building left standing after the Thais flattened the place (and stole the Emerald Buddha) in the 1820's. It's famous for having over 10,000 Buddha figures in every nook and cranny of the courtyard. It's also probably the nicest spot in the city, so let's move quickly on to Laos' most important religious center, and one of the ugliest Buddhist temples I've ever seen, Pra That Luang.

Well, onto the temples, a couple of which unfortunately are pretty nice, so I'll have to drop the sarcastic tone for a while. First up is Ho Pra Keow, which serves the same purpose as Bangkok's Wat Pra Keow, that is, to house the much revered Emerald Buddha. This small Buddha statue originated in Chiang Mai, and is said to give unstoppable power to the owner, which set off nonstop wars as various kingdoms invaded their neighbors to take the all powerful Emerald Buddha back home. You would think the fact that the statue passed around Southeast Asia like a football would indicate that its power may in fact be stoppable, but apparently nobody thought of that. Eventually it ended up in this specially built temple until the Thais took it back to Bangkok in the 1820's. So now it's been converted into a museum of Lao art.

Just finishing up on the non-temple part of our tour with some shots of the main streets of downtown Vientiane (seriously). Somchai (who actually loves Laos) used to cover Laos for American Express. I can't imagine a harder job then explaining to the very primitive hopitality industry what a credit card is, that it's ok for them to take a picture of a card rather than cash from their customers, and why they should let AmEx keep some of the total and trust them to eventually give them their share. Anyway, he used to come here frequently, and we were walking by the central bank (the building on the corner with the jeep parked in front of it) and Somchai went in to visit a friend who used to work there. And a few minutes later, he comes out with the governor of Laos' central bank, and we all go to lunch! I can't see stopping by the Federal Reserve in DC unannounced and lunching with Alan Greenspan (I know there's a new guy but with much less name recognition so I thought it might ruin the analogy). Anyway, the currency had completely collapsed and inflation was running over 100%, but we had a nice leisurely lunch so I guess everything was under control.

I feel bad dumping on the place, so I'm going to quote Frommer's on the next part of our visit, the Mekhong. The river is pictured at right, and the shophouses on yet another paved road are on the street across from the river. To quote Mr. Frommer: "The Mekhong, lined with picturesque colonials, rolls through the very heart of the city and glows pink at sunset-not to be missed."